Dave Shinel wanted help around the house, so he built a robot. Then, we made him a certified Backyard Genius, part of Popular Mechanics's yearly tribute to the world's greatest unsung engineers.

Dave Shinsel has posted all the source code and schematics for his Loki robot at dshinsel.com. (Photograph by Chris Mueller)

Digital Geppetto

Dave Shinsel; Portland, Ore.

Dave Shinsel's latest robot may look like WALL-E—but it takes after the Jetsons' Rosie. "I was just going to attach a webcam to a mobile pedestal, but then I figured I should make it more personable," says the longtime engineering manager at Intel. "Then I decided it should at least pick up the pet toys."

What Shinsel ultimately created was the 4-foot-tall Loki—named for the Norse god of mischief, partly for its unpredictable AI responses in "conversation mode," and partly for the 40-pound bot's early predilection for running into walls. The aluminum chassis is loaded with two dozen sensors, 11 servos, a pair of webcams for eyes and 70,000 lines of custom code. Thanks to the OpenCV vision program, Loki can recognize people, identify CDs, count cash—and, yes, pick up objects from the floor. Microsoft Speech API allows Loki to respond to voice commands. A digital map of the house, along with a compass and an odometer, helps the robot navigate between rooms.

Next task for the $2000 droid? Tackling the refrigerator's tricky vacuum seal. "I'd love for him to grab me a beer."

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